


home is whenever i'm with you

by polaris18



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hair Braiding, Just some soft lancelot, Lance missing his family :(, Little bit of jealous keith, Lotor living on the ship, M/M, s4 spoilers, takes place where s4 left off kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 17:23:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12709485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polaris18/pseuds/polaris18
Summary: After being exiled and betrayed by his generals, Lotor teams up with Voltron. The paladins reluctantly allow him to stay on the castle ship, and one by one he earns each of their trust, except for Lance.





	home is whenever i'm with you

Some were quicker than others to adjust to the prince's presence. Surprisingly, Allura was the first person to actually begin to trust him. Allura was explicit about her doubts during the first few days, constantly questioning Lotor's motives and trying to convince the other paladins that this was all a trap. However, the two quickly bonded over their shared Altean heritage. Lotor approached her sometime around the second day, and confessed that he was always curious about the Altean language and their culture. After convincing Allura that he didn't have some elaborate scheme to use the information he requested against her, the two had a rather heartfelt discussion. 

Allura opened up to him slowly, telling him about everything from common phrases to old Altean folktales and traditions. She even told him a bit about her father, and how much she missed her people and her home. Lotor, in turn, expressed his own conflicted feelings and guilt, and sincerely apologized for contributing to the Galra empire at all. Coran, who had been walking the halls when he overheard snippets of their conversation, decided that Lotor's words seemed genuine and was much kinder to Lotor from then on. 

After gaining Allura and Coran's 'approval', if you could even call it that, the chaos upon Lotor's arrival settled into a peaceful coexistence. Sure, Lotor was still the recipient of some nasty glares from Keith, as well as snide remarks from Lance and Pidge, but the paladins slowly began to warm up to him. All it took was Lotor complimenting Hunk's cooking for him to gain Hunk's acceptance, and Pidge and Lotor were able to bond over Galran technology as he explained to her everything he knew about the inner workings of Galran ships and their functions. 

What started as a heated interrogation from Shiro and Keith ended with a friendly discussion in which Lotor shared Galran weaknesses and secrets. Keith was still suspicious and tried to accuse Lotor of lying, but Shiro reasoned that everything Lotor knew seemed to line up and only add on to what the paladins had gathered. Reluctantly, Keith agreed and even made an offer for Lotor to join him on the training deck sometime. Although, noticing Lotor's surprise at the invitation, Keith quickly amended himself and informed Lotor that the sparring bots and the other paladins had just gotten too predictable for him. 

The only one who Lotor couldn't quite get to trust him was Lance.

Lotor knew that the blue lion was the most trusting, so he figured that by extension, the blue paladin would be as well. Yet all his attempts on starting up a conversation with Lance were quickly cut off by accusations or even Lance just flat out ignoring him and leaving the room. Meals were always tense. Lotor would joke around and laugh along with the other paladins, at times even adding his own witty remarks that made the others chuckle. And yet anytime Lotor looked over at Lance to gauge his reaction, he would always find the blue paladin glaring at him or frowning down at his food. One particular instance ended in a heated dispute between the two. 

"You know Lotor, you really aren't all that bad! Even Kaltenecker likes you! You should have seen Coran and Allura with her." Pidge laughed wholeheartedly, throwing her head back and smiling over at Allura and Coran, to which Allura's face turned a bit red.

"I didn't know!" Allura tried to defend herself, but she was only met with laughs all around the table, and a friendly nudge to the shoulder from Shiro. "I have to agree with Pidge on that first part, though. I'll admit, we all had our doubts about you at first, but you've definitely proven yourself to be sincere. I think I speak for everyone when I say how happy we are to have you as an ally of the coalition." The other paladins all nodded in agreement, to which Lotor smiled and politely ducked his head. All of the paladins except Lance, that is, who seemed rather preoccupied in scarfing down his food. 

"Yeah, if Kaltenecker trusts you, then I do too," Hunk added, and then looked worriedly at Lance who choked on his food for a moment, before continuing to eat hastily as food dribbled down onto his lap and off his plate. Apparently, Hunk wasn't the only one to notice, as Lance's messy eating gained the attention of the other members of the table as well. Allura opened her mouth to scold him, but was cut off as Lotor spoke first. 

"Well if I wanted to earn the trust of a messy animal, then I believe I would have been better off spending my time trying to earn Lance's trust over here." Lotor joked, gesturing at the crumbs Lance had left all over his part of the table. 

Immediately, Lance slammed his fork down on the table and looked up from his plate for one of the few times that night, his face burning red with anger and embarrassment. 

"Oh yeah? Well, fuck you Lotor!” Lance yelled, and then quickly regained his composure, even more embarrassed than before at his sudden outburst. Shiro reprimanded him with a look of disappointment. 

“Lance, you need to calm down. Did you forget that Lotor saved us all from that exploding planet, or that he’s helped us by giving us essential information to our fight against the Galra?” Shiro questioned.

Keith, who sat to Lance’s left, just looked confused. He figured that out of anyone, Lance and Lotor would have been the friendliest. 

“What’s your problem with Lotor anyway, Lance?” Keith voiced his confusion. 

Lance’s gaze flickered between the two of him, and his hands gripped the table tightly beneath him in frustration. His entire body was tense, like a pressure building up within him that was just about to explode.

“It’s the fucking hair!” Lance shouted, finally releasing his grip on the table and slumping down in his chair. He crossed his arms like a petulant child and glared at the floor to avoid anyone's gaze. The rest of the table was silent, and exchanged confused glances with each other. 

“Excuse me?” Lotor tilted his head to the side in confusion, and self consciously reached a hand to brush a lock of hair back behind his ear.

“Do you have any idea how much time and effort it takes to maintain this?” Lance gestured to his hair. His tone was bitter and accusing, and he was staring directly at Lotor this time as he continued his rant. “Do you have any idea how much food goo and weird alien ingredients that I had to experiment with to make the products I needed for my hair and skin? I broke out into a rash at least like, four times! And then you come along,” Lance was almost seething at this point, as he pointed a finger accusingly at Lotor. “With your perfect hair, and your perfect skin, and your perfect face! I’m supposed to be the pretty one!” With that, Lance exhaled and closed his eyes, trying to regain his composure for the second time.

The entire room was silent, with bewildered eyes looking between Lance and where he was pointing. Finally, two voices broke the silence as they overlapped each other at the same time.

“You think I’m pretty?”  
“You think he’s pretty?”

Keith and Lotor both jumped and looked at the other. Lotor stared at Keith apologetically, while Keith stared back with a look of disdain and a bit of embarrassment. 

Lance flopped down on the table and groaned, burying his face in his arms.

\-----

After that night, Lotor and the paladins had come to grow much closer. He aided the team when it came to strategies and plans, and even joined them during battles, using his ship with its powerful beam. After one of those fights in particular, and a few weeks since the incident at dinner, Lotor was resting in his room when he heard a knock at the door.

Usually, it was Hunk or Coran reminding him it was dinner time, or even Keith who occasionally requested to spar with him on the training deck. This time, Lotor opened his door to find Lance standing there hesitantly. 

“Is something the matter, Lance?” Lotor’s sharp features twisted with concern. Lance stood there for a moment or two, shyly avoiding Lotor’s gaze for a moment before he gathered up courage.

“Can I braid your hair?” Lance rushed out, and then squeezed his eyes tightly for a few seconds before opened them to see Lotor’s expression. His face had softened from concern to some amount of fondness as he chuckled.

“If you’d like. Come in.” Lotor moved out of the doorway and gestured for Lance to come inside. Lance eyed the contents of the room suspiciously, probably looking around for some evil thing Lotor had left lying around. Lotor brushed it off and retrieved a brush and a hair tie before making his way over to sit on the bed. He patted the spot behind him, and arched an expectant brow at Lance.

“Oh,” Lance said absently, and then shook his head before kneeling on the bed behind Lotor. Lance was much more comfortable being out of view of the half-galra, and found it easier to gain confidence without those purple eyes piercing into him. 

“Woah,” Lance breathed, brushing his fingers through Lotor’s hair. “It’s so soft! How…” He trailed off, distracted. Lotor just laughed softly in response. “Seriously, what kind of shampoo do you use?”

“I have only been using whatever the castle provides. I don’t believe it has much effect, however. It has naturally been this way for as long as I can remember. Most likely in part due to my shared Altean heritage.” Lotor answered calmly. Lance acknowledged this with a low hum, which gave him the idea to start humming an old song he remembered. His fingers began to part the top layer into sections with practiced ease. The two settled into a comfortable quietness, save for Lance’s soft melody and the hushed rumble of the ship. 

“I used to braid my little sisters’ hair all the time, back on Earth.” Lance told him.

“You must miss them a lot. Tell me about them.” Lotor replied. 

“I do. I have three of them, but only one of them is older than me. She used to be the one to braid for the little ones, but she taught me how to just before she moved out, so that I could take over for her. I got really good at it too!" Lance exclaimed pridefully. "I must have learned dozens of different braids off the internet for my sisters, but they always insisted that I do a Dutch braid.” Lance paused for a moment, and smiled sadly. “That’s the one I’m doing now.” Lotor was silent for a moment before he spoke.

“Will you go back home, once we defeat my father and his empire?” 

“I’ve thought about that a lot,” Lance sighed. “I’m not sure. So much has changed. _I’ve_ changed.” Lance shuddered a bit, and lost a strand of the braid. He struggled for a moment to get it back, and then continued. “My family probably thinks I’m dead right now.” He laughed bitterly.

Lotor turned just barely to make eye contact, but not enough to make Lance lose the braid. With a determined look in his eyes, he spoke resolutely. 

“I’ll make sure you get back to them, once this is all over. I promise.” 

Lance’s eyes widened, and he smiled for a moment, before placing a hand on Lotor’s neck and guiding it back forward so Lance could finish the braid. In one final motion, he slipped the hair tie off his wrist and wrapped it tightly around the bottom of the hair before pulling back a bit to admire his work.

“How did it turn out?” Lotor asked.

Lance got up from the bed and stood in front of Lotor. He did a once over at the front and giggled. 

“I may have missed a piece.” Lance reached out and twirled in his finger the signature unruly piece of hair that always stuck out, no matter what hairstyle Lotor had. 

Lotor stared up at the place where Lance’s fingers made contact with his hair, just barely brushing the skin there. He looked up at Lance’s eyes to find a deep blue staring kindly back. Upon noticing this, Lotor stood up, and pulled Lance close into a warm embrace. Without hesitation, Lance wrapped his hands around Lotor’s waist and buried his head in the man’s chest. And if a few tears fell onto Lotor’s shirt, well, Lance just hoped Lotor didn’t notice.

**Author's Note:**

> i saw what lance wrote on lotor's page in that book and died laughing, so i wrote those // title from 'home' by edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros bc i'm basic // tumblr: voltronfamsquad.tumblr.com


End file.
